How to Install Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 using the "Unified Extensible Firmware Interface" (UEFI)

  Information

Systems that are built using Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) are more likely to achieve very fast pre-boot times when compared to those with traditional BIOS. This isn’t because UEFI is inherently faster, but because UEFI writers starting from scratch are more able to optimize their implementation rather than building upon a BIOS implementation that may be many years old.

Delivering fast boot times in Windows 8 - Building Windows 8 - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

This method can also be used for the UEFI installation of Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 SP1, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows Vista SP1.

Note 
You will need to satisfy the following requirements in order to proceed:

• A Windows 8 compatible system
• A Windows 8 64-bit installation media. 32-bit is not supported.
• A UEFI v2.0+ compliant PC. Check your chipset manufacturer/firmware documentation.
• A blank, partition-free, hard disk for installation.

  Warning

• Disabling UEFI will make the system unbootable as there is no MBR on the disks.
• You CANNOT make a sector-by-sector copy of GPT disks. The Disk and Partition GUIDs will no longer be unique. This must never happen. You can make a sector-by-sector copy of the contents of ESP or basic data partitions

Here's How:

1. Do step 2 or 3 below depending on what installation Media you are using.

2. If using a 64-bit Windows 8 or 8.1 Installation DVD with UEFI Support

A) Insert the DVD, restart the computer, and go to step 4 below.
NOTE: If you are unsure that your 64-bit DVD has UEFI support, then see OPTION TWO here: Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 ISO - Download or Create

3. If using a 64-bit Windows 8 or 8.1 Installation USB Flash Drive with UEFI Support

A) If you have not already, you will need to create a Windows 8 or 8.1 installation bootable USB flash drive with UEFI from either a Windows 8 installation ISO or DVD.

B) Connect the USB, restart the computer, and go to step 4 below.

4. Press whatever key (ex: F11) it shows to boot to your motherboard's boot menu, and select to boot from the listed UEFI DVD or UEFI USB. (see screenshot below)

5. Do steps 2 to 7 in the tutorial at the link below, and return.

Clean Install - Windows 8

6. Delete all partitions/volumes on the disk # (ex: Disk 0) that you want to install Windows 8 as UEFI on until that disk # shows as unallocated space. (see screenshot below)

7. When you are finished, click/tap on New, Apply (for full size of disk), and OK. (see screenshot above)

8. You will notice that the disk has now been formatted as GPT with 4 partitions. Select the "Primary" partition 4, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: You might receive a "Windows can't be installed on drive 0" warning, but as long as you can click on the Next button, you're fine.

   Note

The 4 partitions are:

• Paritition 1 - Recovery
• Partition 2 - System - The EFI System partition that contains the NTLDR, HAL, Boot.txt, and other files that are needed to boot the system, such as drivers.
• Partition 3 - MSR - The Microsoft Reserved (MSR) partition that reserves space on each disk drive for subsequent use by operating system software.
• Partition 4 - Primary - Where Windows is to be installed to.
  
  It is imperative that these 4 partitions remain in the exact order as they are

9. You can now finish doing the steps in either tutorial below.

• Steps 9 to 21 here - Clean Install - Windows 8
• Same steps 9 to 21 as above, but also steps 4 to 6 afterwards here - Clean Install with Windows 8 Upgrade

10. That's it. You have successfully installed Windows 8 on a UEFI system.

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Posted in: IOS

How to create a bootable Windows 8 installation DVD using the ESD folder

Step by Step series of instructions and screen shots on how to burn a bootable Windows 8 installation DVD. If you have a folder named C:\ESD on your disc drive you can use it to create a bootable Windows 8 installation or repair DVD.

This is especially useful if you forgot to choose the “Install by creating media option” when using the Upgrade Assistant to obtain Windows 8. One word of caution: If you are running a 32Bit version of Windows (XP, Vista or Windows 7) the Upgrade process will download the 32Bit version of the Windows 8 installation files as there is no means of selecting the 64Bit when using the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant. The same is true if you running a 64Bit version as what you get is the 64Bit version of the installation files which are located in the ESD folder. Note: If you do not have an ESD folder you can re-download the upgrade using the Windows 8 product key you received in your Email confirmation. How to upgrade to Windows 8 with only a product key: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-8/upgrade-product-key-only Once the actual upgrade process starts you will be given the chance to select how you want the installation to proceed. 1) Install now 2) Install by creating media 3) Install later from your desktop Selecting either the "Install by creating media" or “Install later” option will create the necessary C:\ESD folder. At this point in time I’m not certain that the “Install now” option will create an ESD folder but it should. I will show you step by step how to use the contents of the ESD folder to create a bootable Windows 8 installation DVD. The screenshots below were taken from a computer running Windows 7 Professional 64Bit. Note that before starting I created an Image Backup of the entire disk drive and also disconnected the second drive in the computer. I then used option #3 “Install later from your desktop” as a means of creating the ESD folder and associated files and sub-folders.

1) Download and install ImgBurn:ImgBurn is a utility that can be used to create a bootable installation DVD from a specified source or to create an .ISO file from a specified source and later use the .ISO file to create a bootable installation DVD.
http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download

2) Start ImgBurn and click on the ‘Write files/folders to disc’ option.

3) Click on the ‘Options’ tab and select the option shown in the screen shot. Warning: Do not select the ‘Preserve Full Pathnames’ or the ‘Include Archive Files Only’ options. Set the ‘File System’ to UDF.

4) Select the Source, use the Browse option: Navigate to C:\ESD\Windows\ Click on the ‘Windows’ subfolder and click on the ‘Select Folder’ button.

5) Select a Destination, which should default to your DVD burner: Note: The ‘Verify’ option should be checked.

6) Click on the ‘Advanced’ tab, click on the ‘Bootable Disc’ tab and place a checkmark in ‘Make Image Bootable’ option. Emulation should be set to ‘None’.

Next you need set the 'Boot Image' field to point to the 'etfsboot.com' file which is located in the C:\ESD\Windows\boot\ folder. Click on this file and then click on the ‘Open’ button.

In the Developer ID field enter: Microsoft Corporation. Finally change the ‘Sectors To Load’ value from 4 to 8.

Next, click on the ‘Restrictions’ tab and set the ‘Folder/File Name Length’ to ‘Level X – 219 characters’. Place check marks in the following: Allow more than 8 directories, Allow more than 255 Characters In Path, Allow files Without Extensions and Don’t Add -1 Version Number To Files’.

If you have not already done so, insert a blank high quality DVD+R media. Now select the ‘Device’ tab and set the ‘Write Speed’ to either 2 or 4x.

Start the process to burn the DVD

7) Start the process to burn the DVD. When you are warned “You’ve only selected 1 folder !” (C:\ESD\Windows\) click ‘Yes’ to continue.

8) Enter a meaningful “Volume Label” as shown below and click ‘Yes’.

9) ImgBurn will display the files and folders and other information about the DVD to be created. Note that the information displayed below may vary depending on which version of Windows you are upgrading from but should be an exact match of the properties for the contents of the C:\ESD\Windows folder.

Click ‘OK’ to start the process of burning a bootable Windows 8 installation DVD. 10) The progress bar is displayed. Time to create the DVD may vary based on the DVD write speed you selected. Using a 4x burn rate this should only take about 10 minutes (at 4x) to burn the DVD and another 4 minutes to verify the contents.

11) Completion status notice, also review the ImgBurn log for any errors, then exit ImgBurn.

12) Check the contents of the DVD that ImgBurn created.

That’s it, your done. Remember this is an “Upgrade” Windows 8 installation DVD and when using the product key (received via Email when you placed an order for the $40 upgrade offer), requires that you have a previous version of Windows (XP, Vista or Windows 7) is installed and activated. You can also use the DVD to ‘Repair’ Windows 8 by selecting the Troubleshoot option and selecting either ‘Refresh’ (without losing your files) or ‘Reset’ (removes all files and reset your PC completely) options.

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Posted in: Hardware/OS